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This is a post to announce the production of a multi-episode television series about two brothers riding BMW F800GS motorcycles around China. For full details you can view: www.mkride.com. You can also follow the riders on Facebook and Twitter. They will depart on August 15th for their epic 60 day - 20,000km - journey around China.
Good luck with your ride. If you want advice for Shandong province routes please ask. I'm sure other riders can help you in their local area.
ZMC888, thanks a lot for your offer. I may get in touch with you in the coming weeks. Thanks for your support.
Hope to meet up with you guys in Beijing :goodtime: and show you some of the real :riding: goodies around the capital :deal:Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanjpyle
Andy, that would be great. Should be around 3rd week of August. We will ride from Beijing down to Wutai Shan. Should be awesome. Ryan Pyle
Impressive, no need to say have fun since you will. So I say good luck. That is always needed.
ZMC888, do you know if I can take the ferry from Yantai, Shandong to Dalian, Liaoning with my motorcycle? Thanks, Ryan Pyle.
Good luck guys, looks like quite and adventure. Ping me if you want some route suggestions for Guangdong, done the Yangshuo - Dongguan route many times There's a full service garage with cold beer and beds if you need it in Dongguan.
Cheers!
ChinaV
ChinaV, many thanks for the offer. We indeed take you up on the cold beer and bed. We reckon it'll be a tough trip. Thanks for your support. Ryan Pyle.
Good luck on your travels, it sounds like the trip of a lifetime! Looking forward to learning what happens along the way. Let us know if you want an escort back into Shanghai on the last leg of the journey, i'm sure i'm not alone in saying it would be an honour!
Felix, we'll be sure to keep everyone posted on our progress. Would be great to catch up for a bit on the home-stretch. Thanks for your support. Ryan Pyle.
Hello Ryan,
good luck for your project. Don't forget to knock at our doors once you pass by in Dong Guan and Fuzhou...
:thumbsup:
AW.
Ryan, there are definitely ferries that go from Yantai to Dalian, although I'm uncertain whether you can take a motorcycle or car. The problem in China is if I ask someone 5 people will say you can take cars and bikes, 3 will say ferries are for foot passengers only, and 2 will say the ferries can only take cars, so asking is futile! The only way I can find out is to go to Yantai and try to put my bike on a ferry!
http://motorcycle.sh.cn/t_573468_1.htmQuote:
Originally Posted by ZMC888
Bike: Y120 ppl:Y130
Ok Humanbeing or someone he knew did it this year, so that means that it is possible!
One of the girls who works for me found out that all of the below say yes, it is possible with a bike. Check for schedules, Chinese only.Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanjpyle
Quote:
1，Yantai port烟台港
Tel :0535-6743046
23# Haigang Road ,Zhifu District ,Yantai
烟台市芝罘区海港路23号
2, Yantai Salvage port烟台打捞局港
Tel : 0535-6807574
100# East Road of Zhifu Island, Zhifu District ,Yantai
烟台市芝罘区芝罘岛东路 100号
3, Yantai Huanhai Terminal
烟台港环海路客运站
Tel : 0535-6291285
2#Huanhai Road, Zhifu District ,Yantai
烟台市芝罘区环海路2号
Yantai---Dalian 6hs
Should be a grand adventure! Great work on the website too!
Expect some hassles at Tashkorgan and good luck on 219! :thumbsup:
Can't wait for the pictures. What camera gear are you guys taking?
CC
Looks like a good ride. Looking forward to the report.
CrazyCarl yes except some delays at Taskurgan.
It is still a nervous situation for the gov in xin jinag.
We had problems getting a visa to China lately because of our links /time there.
I know of another American boy getting grilled just because he spent 2 months there.
I would not like to be traveling Highway 219 in September.
The Kazak's are leaving the summer mountain pastures in the Tian shan late August.I 'd follow there lead.
[IMG]http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/t...ountain044.jpg[/IMG]
The snow came early last year in shihezi and was still getting a good fall in April this year.Very rare.
Certainly would not like to be stuck out on 219 in bad weather.
I would not rely on your Garmin GPS to much you can read about the reports in threads here but basically there out by something like 400 mtrs.
Some people use them some people hate them.I found them Ok for Xin jiang except the big cities where you may as well turn it off.
Can't beat a map and compass still.
It looked to me you had planned to travel out to the Pakistan border.
Be aware that it is still closed at Khunjerab Port, 430 km from Kashgar in Taxkorgan county on the western Pamirs plateau. Due to avalanche closing the road.Normally the road is open in May.
Who knows what happened is happening on highway 219 the last winter and now?
G219 in Tibet is perfect to drive in September, dry and no rain at all.
btw:
Please pay attention that the beginning of the G219 from Xinjiang into Tibet has a crazy altitude increase. On just 220 km it climbs from under 1400m to over 5000m!!!
This can end up deadly if you don’t come prepared.
Wow, thanks guys for all the great advice. CrazyCarl, I'll be sure to watch out on the way uop to the border. Tokyokid, I've taken that road by car before, it's very intense. Altitude sickness is something we really need to be careful with.
Cheers,
What about snow.Quote:
Originally Posted by tokyokid
We where getting snow down to 2000mtrs in the Tian shan last September.
Hi Ryan,Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanjpyle
try to take Diamox a day before you get to higher elevations. It helped my family (wife and 14 year old son at that time) enormously on our second trip to Lhasa flying in directly from Hong Kong. On our first visit thin air knocked us out for two days... So Diamox for us really helped. Of course still need to take it easy at the beginning and drink lot's of water...
Your homepage is growing nicely - time must be flying for you now...
Cheers,
AW.
This sounds very interesting! Good luck!
20k in 60 days sounds quite tough, that is 330km per day, not including non-ride days.
Hello,
Tare, thanks for your concern. My brother Colin and I have decided to extend our trip to around 70-75 days to help break it up a little bit. That brings the km per day down to a more manageable 270km per day. With that being said this is going to be an epic bike ride with a lot of long days on the bike. Not easy. We appreciate your support.
Hi folks,
I just wanted to write and thank everyone for their interest in my trip, and for all the support everyone has offered. It's a great feeling to have the China riding community behind such a journey. I just wanted to give everyone an update as to where we are at the moment. Our departure date is still Sunday August 15th 2010, we'll leave from Shanghai and head north. Our goal is still to complete the circumnavigation of China (counter clockwise) in 60-70 days. You can of course follow our journey and learn more about our journey at www.mkride.com.
At the moment we have secured full sponsorship from Touratech, for aftermarket equipment, and BMW. Touratech deserve special thanks as they were the first people to really believe in our trip and we are forever grateful to them, and the wonderful quality of their equipment. BMW have only recently joined us as sponsors, supplying 2 F800GS motorcycles as well as full rider clothing and equipment. A very special thanks goes out to BMW Munich for their wonderful support. Other sponsors include: Airhawk, Pelican, Lowepro, Oakley, Mandarin House, Cardo Systems and Kodak.
With just 38 days to go before our departure from Shanghai you can imagine we are in a mad scramble to get everything ready for our trip. It won’t really be an easy process but I’ll do my best to keep everyone posted. On a side note I’ve had to important an insane amount of equipment to complete this journey and if anyone is interested in getting a run down of what we imported and how we did it you can check out our website or contact me directly. The purpose of this journey is to test what is possible, and share it with as many people as possible.
Your support is much appreciated.
Wow, nice going on getting your sponsorship! :thumbsup:
I'm sure you don't want to reveal all your secrets, but could you explain a little about how you approach a major company like BMW and get them to furnish the motorcycles. Does it require some inside introductions? Do you get to keep the bikes after the tour? What kind of standard does BMW have for qualifying the return on investment in this case?
I'm not surprised you have to import everything, most of the quality stuff is not represented at all in China. I sometimes forget how much benefit there is to having Hong Kong so close. Must be difficult with the Expo and all going on in Shanghai.
Good luck with your preparations, I'm in the middle of the same thing right now as I prepare for a two month USA ride starting next week. Although, it is a bit easier to plan a relaxed vacation tour in ones home country.
Cheers!
ChinaV
ChinaV,
I think the Touratech sponsorship and the BMW bikes and equipment came together because of the television series that we are producing from our journey. I believe that is the only reason that they've supported us is because they see marketing dollars being well spent on us. Without the TV deal I am sure they would not have supported us. I can only imagine how many "free bike" requests they must get per year.
I had no "insider" angle in dealing with BMW, the process started over 3 months ago by emailing the info@bmw.de mail box with a proposal of my expedition and show; it's been an insane process, but we got the result we were looking for. I feel it will be a win-win situation for everyone. We will get to keep the bikes after the tour.
Importing everything has been really difficult, Shanghai Expo or no Expo. Everything has been stuck in customs for weeks, even sponsored equipment. The process has been exhausting. More on that over a few cold beers.
Thank you sir for the great reply, guess I can stop writing that request letter to KTM :lol8:
Cheers!
ChinaV
ChinaV,
I think that KTM have no presence in China, and I am not even sure that you could get a KTM licensed and registered here. Maybe if, in your letter or phone call to them, you explained how you want to pioneer the KTM brand in China and get Chinese riders excited about KTM bikes you might get some good responses from them. I've never seen a KTM in China. Are they street legal? Can you register them properly?